News Story

SimCity boss takes responsibility for launch woes

SimCity has endured a hellish release. Servers have failed to meet demand, bugs have plagued traffic and pathfinding within the game, and many other issues have given players cause for real concern.

Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw believes it is her fault.

"I feel like I let them down, this was my responsibility," she said in an interview with CVG.

Bradshaw suggests Maxis didn't expect so many players to ready themselves for the launch of the game.

"I can't reveal numbers but I can say that we experienced a significant increase in demand in the days leading up to the launch and it caught us off guard. It was our fault that we underestimated our fans and to that end, we should have known better."

"Never underestimate the power of your fans. All of the sales data, charts and graphs can't tell you the entire story. Test your game in the real world as much as possible because your players will challenge your game in ways that you never thought possible."

Even with this advice, Bradshaw believes she is the main culprit behind the problems.

"I feel like I let them down, this was my responsibility, but I tell them what we all know: SimCity is a wonderful game and that we should all be proud of the effort that went into making it. I'm taking every step possible to bring the game to stability so that the rest of the world can enjoy all of their hard work."

How is your SimCity experience progressing? Let us know what you think of the game and Bradshaw's comments below.